Interview With Ben Acorn

HQ: Hello Mr.Ben Acorn, this is the Sonic HQ News crew. We have a
few questions for you...let us start by asking the most important.
What midi are you working on now? Can you tell us a little bit
about it?

Ben: The midi that I am currently working on is called Chaos Jam.
It is track 1 on Virtual Sonic CD. Itâ€™s a very good song but it
keeps proving to be very difficult. It has many instruments in it
that cannot be reproduced in a general midi file. I am only able
to get around this by using the closest instruments to them that
are available to put in a general midi file. Now, that doesnâ€™t mean
that itâ€™s not going to be good. It means that it will take more
work to make it good.

HQ: When do you think it'll be finished?

Ben: Well there's really no way to tell. I can give you a guess
though. I think it should be done in about 2 or 3 weeks depending
on the time I have to work on it. And I have three more midi's not
yet released to the public.

Ben: Sonic CD-Wacky Work Bench Present, Sonic CD-Sonic Boom, Sonic
CD-Stardust Speedway Bad Future, and a re-make of Sonic Boom and
Stardust Speedway Bad future because they were some of my first mids
and has tons of errors in them.

HQ: Which one's your favorite?

Ben: Sonic CD-Wacky Work Bench Present is the most accurate but I
like Sonic Boom the best.

HQ: Many people would like to know the answer to this question, how
exactly do you make midi files?

Ben: Well? First you need to get a notation or sequencing program.
I have one because I was interested in writing music. These programs
are not always cheap. Some cost up to $1000, but don't worry those
programs are for professional composers who write music for big time
orchestras. There aren't any shareware versions of midi programs that
I know of that let you save your work. So be ready to spend some money.
I use Quick Score Professional. It cost about $90 and works very well.

HQ: What's the cheapest sequencing program you know of?

Ben: Um ... I guess Cake Walk. I know you can download a demo and I've
seen the full version and it look's cheap. but I don't know how much
it costs.

HQ: Who do you think is the best Sonic midi maker on the net? Besides
you that is. (laughs)